Are there ANY legitimately "game-used" jerseys left in hobby releases?

[TheFrenzy]

I know there are a few, yes. But what I'd like to do in this thread in compile all of the legitimate game used releases starting from the 1996 Upper Deck until the present. So let me know which product releases have actually used genuine game-used jersey patches and I'll try to keep a list.

1996:

1997:

1998:

1999:

2000:

2001:

2002:

2003:

2004:

2005:

2006:

2007:

2008:

2009:

2010:

2011:

2012:

2013:

2014:

[kaushikentucky]

Lol I asked this question a couple of weeks ago, can't wait to hear what the experts say!

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by kaushikentucky

Lol I asked this question a couple of weeks ago, can't wait to hear what the experts say!

As someone who left the hobby early in 1999, I'm still trying to nail down the year that cards switched from "game worn" to "event worn." Maybe 2003?

[HBMC]

Almost all of the Panini's Vet content is Game worn, as was most if not all of Donruss/Playoff/Leaf (old Leaf), the only stuff that's event worn from them is Rookie stuff, but even then, I have a couple of Tyler Eifert's Relic Cards from 2013 NT that are GU. So it's basically up to the buyer to do their homework.

Topps is so dubious with their wording on football, they're a little hard to trust sometimes, most of their higher end products with Vets are GU though.

UD hasn't been GU since 2009 and some scattered 2010 Products.

[twisty571]

2009 NT still had Game-Used.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by HBMC

Almost all of the Panini's Vet content is Game worn, as was most if not all of Donruss/Playoff/Leaf (old Leaf), the only stuff that's event worn from them is Rookie stuff, but even then, I have a couple of Tyler Eifert's Relic Cards from 2013 NT that are GU. So it's basically up to the buyer to do their homework.

Topps is so dubious with their wording on football, they're a little hard to trust sometimes, most of their higher end products with Vets are GU though.

UD hasn't been GU since 2009 and some scattered 2010 Products.

Thanks HBMC! Could you refresh me though on when old Leaf became new Leaf? Do you remember a specific year when the big shift to event-worn cards began?

[HBMC]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

Thanks HBMC! Could you refresh me though on when old Leaf became new Leaf? Do you remember a specific year when the big shift to event-worn cards began?

When Donruss/Playoff/Leaf/Score/Pacific/Pinnacle, etc was bought out in 2009 by Panini (they still left the old names on most products as they decided which names to keep) they sold off the name "Leaf" to Brian Gray shortly thereafter in 2010 (he used to be "Razor").

2007-2009 were great in NT, Donruss was farting dust financially and they went out with a bang with their vet content. It's probably why we haven't seen as much of late, they depleted the stockpile pretty badly in those three years.

Event worn first probably exploded in 2000-2001. Prior to that it seemed to be mostly autos (which were grossly overproduced) IIRC, it was Upper Deck who really spearheaded it too. Oh the irony.

[DieselPack1996]

2005 Upper Deck SPx card featuring Ahman Green and LT is still Game used.

2004 Topps Chrome is not only Gmae used but from his probowl uni. Which I personally think is BAD A$$

playoff Fleer Don Russ all Game worn from 2004.

But Playoff in 2002 was better. ON the back of the card it says "the enclosed piece of material was cut from an Authentic Jersey personally worn by Ahman Green in an Official NFL game on 1/6/02 featuring The packers vs. the Giants." Only reason I posted that is because you can tell the down hill slide is on.

Don Russ Playofff Prestige 2007 Ahman Green is still game used so is Upper Deck 2007 NFL Artifacts.

Don Russ 2008 Gridiron gear Still game worn

Thats all I got for you from my Ahman Collection

[Seahawks fan]

I think 90% of the stuff was game used pre 2001. 2001 is when SP Authentic went to RC patches/Jersey swatches instead of just autos or serial #d.

Obviously how is a player supposed to have game worn material in his RC SEASON if he hasnt even played yet. ( I do believe one earlier set tried this and it wasnt a hit so they didnt go through the trouble anymore)

Now all of the earlier UD, Playoff, Donruss etc would clearly state that a card was either GAME USED or EVENT used

It wasnt until recent years that companies would put shady wording like "this is an authentic jersey" with nor further explanation. Basically if it doesnt say GAME USED it isnt game used.

2nd year cards generally still use the RC premier jersey swatches especially in cheaper products.

Please prove me wrong but I dont think ANY upperdeck college cards since they lost their NFL License have been "GAME WORN" Its all crap

[ACCDADEAL]

Pay attention to the wording too. Most do not say this is game worn of players name just that it is game worn

[freethrowtommy]

The recent Panini (I forget which product) Down and Dirty set was pretty awesome.

[packa7x]

The one set I'm familiar with, 2013 Panini Rookies & Stars, has a small 20 player set called "Materials Signatures" that features GU jersey swatches from the most random group of players (including 4 Chiefs: Jon Baldwin, Dexter McCluster, Derrick Jonson, and Tamba Hali).

[armyatc22]

Originally Posted by twisty571

2009 NT still had Game-Used.

How are you sure

[addicted36]

Question really is to me this - do you believe what the companies print on the cards or not? I've had cards from 2011-2012-2013 that all say "Game Used" on them. Some examples:

Rice and Lott say Game used


All of these say Game Used



If you don't believe what they say then how do you expect any one of us to tell you when a company is lying and when they aren't when none of us would actually know? I am sorry if I misunderstood your question but either you believe them or you don't.

Also this is from 2007 sorry for big scan and it clearly says Game Worn Jersey from NT



This one from 2013 says Game Helmet Worn from Absolute



The question to me isn't if they are still saying they are Game Worn, they are still printing that on the cards but if you believe what's on there or think it's a lie or not. I haven't see a rookie card that said game worn from the pro level ever since I got into this in 2011. There is no way to know if these companies are lying or not that I know of and if someone does have proof please share.

[bewareof94]

Donruss/Leaf/Playoff put actual photos on the back of the cards of the jerseys, balls, helmets, etc. themselves that the swatch was taken from as part of the COA, up through 2003. I believe they stopped in 2004, so I'm more confident in memorabilia from DLP from the 2000s than pretty much anything else out there

[deltapi1049]

Unless it says "player worn" or "event used" the swatch is game used. Most still say game used.

The language has changed to help CYA. That's about it - nothing has changed in the game used cards except the language. If you think the language is what makes it shady these days, you obviously dont know about what went on throughout the whole game used jersey craze.

The companies didnt change the language because they all of a sudden started changing the way they do these cards. They changed the language so they could prevent lawsuits if something ever came to light like it did with the feds arresting one of the main suppliers for fraud.

[addicted36]

Originally Posted by bewareof94

Donruss/Leaf/Playoff put actual photos on the back of the cards of the jerseys, balls, helmets, etc. themselves that the swatch was taken from as part of the COA, up through 2003. I believe they stopped in 2004, so I'm more confident in memorabilia from DLP from the 2000s than pretty much anything else out there

That card is amazing. if you ever want to trade it please let me know. I have never seen that before and instantly fell in love with it. Its my all time favorite Superbowl

[cadillac540]

Originally Posted by twisty571

2009 NT still had Game-Used.

They weren't game used. The cards were mislabeled.

[bewareof94]

Originally Posted by addicted36

That card is amazing. if you ever want to trade it please let me know. I have never seen that before and instantly fell in love with it. Its my all time favorite Superbowl

Yeah I'm definitely open to a trade/sale. I've always been a big fan of the set, but this is the only one I have and it's not at the top of my wants/priorities right now, so it definitely belongs in a true Redskin fan's PC rather than mine

[marinocollector]

Originally Posted by cadillac540

They weren't game used. The cards were mislabeled.

They had game used.

Playoff did not start using game used swatches until 1999 Contenders football. All the jersey cards from Playoff in 1998 and 1999 were store bought jerseys that the players never wore.

Event worn started in 1998. Edge inserted pieces of Manning draft day jerseys. Upper Deck inserted jerseys of Manning and other rookies in the 1998 Upper Deck Game Jersey set with rookie premiere jerseys .

In 1999, Skybox Dominion had draft day hats. Upper Deck continued to insert rookie premiere jerseys in the rookies from the 1999 draft. In 2000 SPx and Black Diamond had Rookie Premiere Even worn jerseys. I believe some Topps sets had event worn for rookies as well in 2000.
In 2000, Topps had a contract with the Pro Bowl, and stated they were from an event. It was unclear if Topps was calling the Pro Bowl an event or an actual game.
2001 Fleer and Playoff joined the RPM madness.
Rookies have been the main focus for event worn memorabilia for years. The only event worn memorabilia from veteran players as stated were from the Pro Bowl cards issued by Topps and later Panini.
In 2007, with supplies draining, UD started sliding event worn into sets with appropriate ID stating event, but also having separate GU'd in the sets.

[marinocollector]

Originally Posted by Seahawks fan

I think 90% of the stuff was game used pre 2001. 2001 is when SP Authentic went to RC patches/Jersey swatches instead of just autos or serial #d.

Obviously how is a player supposed to have game worn material in his RC SEASON if he hasnt even played yet. ( I do believe one earlier set tried this and it wasnt a hit so they didnt go through the trouble anymore)

Now all of the earlier UD, Playoff, Donruss etc would clearly state that a card was either GAME USED or EVENT used

It wasnt until recent years that companies would put shady wording like "this is an authentic jersey" with nor further explanation. Basically if it doesnt say GAME USED it isnt game used.

2nd year cards generally still use the RC premier jersey swatches especially in cheaper products.

Please prove me wrong but I dont think ANY upperdeck college cards since they lost their NFL License have been "GAME WORN" Its all crap

Thats wrong. The initial offering of Exquisite had NFL Gu'd swatches for the vets.

Another thing, be leery of Pacific.... Pacific lost its license because of how they handled GU'd cards. They were cutting up game used jerseys of special teams players and inserting them into their one GU'd per pack sets. The problem? The swatches would be on super star cards. So one could have an Emmitt Smith card with a "game used jersey" of Joe Blowshard. The card had no indication other than being a GU'd jersey and people assume dit was of the player.

[packa7x]

I'll post a pic later of a Favre jsy card I have...I think it's fleer genuine...it gave an actual game date and showed a pic of the jersey...it was a little pull out tab on the back of the card...I'll post pics later

[bigaust001]

Originally Posted by marinocollector

They had game used.

Playoff did not start using game used swatches until 1999 Contenders football. All the jersey cards from Playoff in 1998 and 1999 were store bought jerseys that the players never wore.

Event worn started in 1998. Edge inserted pieces of Manning draft day jerseys. Upper Deck inserted jerseys of Manning and other rookies in the 1998 Upper Deck Game Jersey set with rookie premiere jerseys .

In 1999, Skybox Dominion had draft day hats. Upper Deck continued to insert rookie premiere jerseys in the rookies from the 1999 draft. In 2000 SPx and Black Diamond had Rookie Premiere Even worn jerseys. I believe some Topps sets had event worn for rookies as well in 2000.
In 2000, Topps had a contract with the Pro Bowl, and stated they were from an event. It was unclear if Topps was calling the Pro Bowl an event or an actual game.
2001 Fleer and Playoff joined the RPM madness.
Rookies have been the main focus for event worn memorabilia for years. The only event worn memorabilia from veteran players as stated were from the Pro Bowl cards issued by Topps and later Panini.
In 2007, with supplies draining, UD started sliding event worn into sets with appropriate ID stating event, but also having separate GU'd in the sets.

Looking at the Playoffs from 1998-1999 now... and just wow. Did people know they weren't used?

[BrewCrewBall27]

are you just asking about rookies or all players? to this day arent veteran jersey cards all GU???

[MeteoriteGuy]

Originally Posted by marinocollector

They had game used.

Playoff did not start using game used swatches until 1999 Contenders football. All the jersey cards from Playoff in 1998 and 1999 were store bought jerseys that the players never wore.

Event worn started in 1998. Edge inserted pieces of Manning draft day jerseys. Upper Deck inserted jerseys of Manning and other rookies in the 1998 Upper Deck Game Jersey set with rookie premiere jerseys .

In 1999, Skybox Dominion had draft day hats. Upper Deck continued to insert rookie premiere jerseys in the rookies from the 1999 draft. In 2000 SPx and Black Diamond had Rookie Premiere Even worn jerseys. I believe some Topps sets had event worn for rookies as well in 2000.
In 2000, Topps had a contract with the Pro Bowl, and stated they were from an event. It was unclear if Topps was calling the Pro Bowl an event or an actual game.
2001 Fleer and Playoff joined the RPM madness.
Rookies have been the main focus for event worn memorabilia for years. The only event worn memorabilia from veteran players as stated were from the Pro Bowl cards issued by Topps and later Panini.
In 2007, with supplies draining, UD started sliding event worn into sets with appropriate ID stating event, but also having separate GU'd in the sets.

Not a bad write up. Also, event stuff on vets was good for Score and the 2002 Score QBC Set.